


This is a Comedy

by charcolor



Category: Animaniacs
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27725104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charcolor/pseuds/charcolor
Summary: This is a comedy, not a tragedy. Stop reading so much into everything, will you?
Comments: 15
Kudos: 211





	This is a Comedy

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: brief implied references to pedophilia/incest

Did you know that toons can have nightmares?

Well, you see it on TV. Even in Animaniacs, you can see the Warners will sometimes have trouble sleeping, sometimes because of nightmares. You haven't actually seen the nightmares, but realistically, they're not very scary. Wakko having a nightmare about the Olsen twins, Yakko having a nightmare about messing up one of his songs...they sound like they would be funny to watch, right?

After all, Animaniacs is a comedy, not a drama, not a story, not a tragedy. They're not supposed to have nightmares like we do, and they know this. They know what will happen if they have real nightmares.

So when Wakko wakes up in the middle of the night, barely able to breathe, still seeing visions of the killer clowns mutilating and slaughtering his siblings before slowly appproaching him, unable to move or speak or think or breathe, and he wordlessly climbs down to where Yakko sleeps on the bunk bed and nestles himself in the blankets, and Yakko knowingly hugs him tightly while whispering that he's safe and everything's okay, they don't tell anybody.

"You really won't tell anyone outside the show about this?" Wakko mumbles, clutching Yakko's gloved hands.

"'Course not," Yakko reassures him, not really thinking about how often they repeat this. He doesn't say it now, but he knows what will happen if the fans see something like this on screen.

They'll see Wakko reduced to a horrified, helpless little boy, and they'll stretch that over the whole franchise. They'll draw those moments, rambling about how they love to see the angst, immortalizing that moment of terror for the world to fawn over. They'll write stories, forcing poor Wakko to relive that over and over and over, sometimes as reality rather than a nightmare. _What if this really happened, in real life? What if Wakko gets PTSD from the nightmares? What if he has a nightmare and no one is there to comfort him?_ They'll indulge in those scenarios, covering everything they know about the franchise with this one dramatic moment, and they will no longer know or care that Animaniacs is a comedy.

So Yakko doesn't tell anybody. He simply lets Wakko fall asleep beside him, giving him the safety and comfort he needs right now, nothing more, nothing less.

And sometimes Dot will overthink it all. At night, when her brothers sleep, she'll just lie awake and think. The internet has evolved so much to the point that nothing can be controlled. Dot will see those drawings and stories. Her big brothers discourage her-- _you know how nasty people can be on the Internet, you were made to be nine years old you know, you don't wanna know what sort of stuff people post online_ \--but a child's curiosity cannot be quelled by anything, and Dot is no exception.

She doesn't find it so horribly shocking anymore. If she sees something repulsive, she'll get away from it as soon as possible and push that out of her mind. It usually works out, but when it's lonely and quiet at night, her fears are exposed to herself.

What if those things really do happen? What if people who hate them get their way and do such abhorrent things to them? What if her brothers do those things to her? What if she does those things to them? What if she gets pulled aside and stuffed in a situation so atrocious, making her so helpless and defenseless as all the people shamelessly ogle at her--

Too many thoughts, and she ends up screaming into her pillow. Yakko and Wakko both hear it, and they climb over to her bunk and help her breathe easy again. Tonight's one of the easier nights--sometimes, she'll flinch away with wide, teary eyes if her brothers even get close to her, let alone touch her, but tonight she lets them hug her and stroke her back to help calm her down.

"Did you see something nasty on the Internet again?" Yakko asks, no snarkiness or scolding in his tone, just curiosity and compassion.

"No," Dot quietly answers, as she clings to Wakko. "Just thinkin'."

"About what? The, uh..."

"Most of it," Dot says, hoping she doesn't need to elaborate.

"Yeah, yeah, it sucks." Yakko pats her head. She's not wearing curlers tonight, so there's nothing in the way of his gloves. "You know we'd never actually do anything like that to you, right?"

Wakko nods, not saying much, only hugging Dot as he always does when one or both of them feel unsafe.

"Of course!" Dot insists, smiling up at Yakko.

Yakko used to make jokes about that sort of thing. Not super often, because it was kind of tasteless even by his standards, but sometimes he'd crack some dirty jokes about him and his siblings. Nothing super raunchy, of course, but just enough for a conservative parent to call the studios and complain. Knowing what people are getting away with now, though, he's shifted away from that humor. Not entirely, just a comfortable distance.

He doesn't want to feel like he's validating anything or anyone that makes his baby sister feel this scared. Even if maybe he already has, but he doesn't ever say that out loud. They can't really talk about any feelings like this publicly, anyway. They might have to explain how it hurts, and then not only would people be hyperaware of _that,_ but then the really sadistic ones will go out of their way to make it much, much worse.

They don't want to risk any of that. Animaniacs is a comedy, after all.

Yakko, especially, really does not want that to change. Being in a comedy is fun, it makes him and his siblings very happy. No drama to worry about, no tragedy to traumatize them, they can set all that aside during the day and just be kids. 

He wants to be happy, and he wants his little siblings to be happy. He wants Animaniacs to stay as a comedy, but now, with that one incident in the newest season, he made a mistake and exposed his fears on screen, and now he's jeopardized all of that.

"You guys really don't need to worry about me," he tells them that night, when they head back to the water tower and his little siblings keep looking up at him with worry shining in their beady eyes. "That episode's over, alright?"

Dot grabs his hand. "You looked really scared, Yakko."

"Why'd ya ask us if you were funny?" Wakko crosses his arms, letting his tongue hang out with a quizzical expression. "We're all funny. This is Animaniacs."

"Don't worry about it, the episode's over," Yakko repeats.

It's rare for the younger Warners to see Yakko so distraught, even off-screen. They've figured by now it's because he has a protective big brother instinct, and he really doesn't want them to have to worry about him at all. This is the night that they both secretly lie awake, listening to see if Yakko is able to fall asleep.

And he does, but it's not too long before he jolts awake, unable to breathe, everything looking dark and blurry and fuzzy as the world spins.

Dot is the first to leap down to his bunk. "Yakko? Yakko? What's wrong?"

Wakko jumps over immediately afterward, holding Yakko by the shoulders. "You need water?" He pulls a glass of water out of somewhere, probably just typical hammerspace logic, and hands it to Yakko, who quickly takes it and drinks all the water in one gulp before exhaling.

"Thanks," Yakko says, more quietly than usual, which isn't very comforting. "I'm glad you two are okay."

"Why _us?"_ Dot lightly bonks Yakko on the head. "The Nickelwise episode's over, remember?"

"I know that." Yakko lays back down on the bed. "It's just a nightmare. Don't worry 'bout it."

"What happens in the nightmare?" Wakko asks, leaning over him.

"Don't remember. Something like...getting trapped in a cell and watching both of you get taken away forever."

"Aww, Yakko!" Dot hugs him tightly and nuzzles him. "We'd never let that happen! We'd just beat up whoever's responsible and find our way back to you!"

Wakko hugs him on the other side. "Yeah, we always find our way back together!"

Yakko beams at them and they all tightly snuggle together, soon drifting off to peaceful sleep. It's okay to help each other like this. They're family and they love each other, and they want each other to be happy.

That's why we're not supposed to know about it. Look, even now, you're relishing in the idea of them having to suffer so that they can make each other happy again. There's nothing wrong with admiring a family who cares and loves for each other, but we can't hurt them with the knowledge that they have feelings. There are people who want to exploit those feelings and hurt them.

So they have to occupy the air time by making you laugh instead. Don't worry about the nightmares, the paranoia, the trauma. This is a comedy.

**Author's Note:**

> hope this came out okay...i never write in third person present tense >.<
> 
> (CLARIFICATION i don't think there's an issue with angsty animaniacs fanfiction! i actually really like hurt/comfort content with the warners...i just wanted to try playing with the idea with a little self awareness.) (but if you write incest and/or porn of the warners then literally die DON'T touch my stories. they're kids dude)


End file.
